This section provides background information related to the present disclosure which is not necessarily prior art.
During the design of a motor vehicle, the shape and dimensions of the vehicle body are defined. This determines a maximum amount of space available for vehicle systems and components to be installed. The result of this process is often referred to as establishing the packaging requirements of components. The packaging requirements of HVAC systems, particularly air conditioning units, requires intensive development work because such equipment requires significant space that encroaches upon the interior passenger space of the vehicle. HVAC systems typically include a plurality of heat exchangers, a blower motor, and other electrical and mechanical components which must be accounted for in the packaging requirements.
Such development work is focused on minimizing a size of the HVAC system and on the position of the HVAC system within in the vehicle such that interference with passengers is minimized. As a result, the HVAC system is often placed in an instrument panel to maximize the foot space available to the driver and front seat passenger. However, placing an HVAC system in the instrument panel maximizes the space the instrument panel occupies in a front of the vehicle, thus increasing mounting space in a longitudinal direction of the vehicle.
Other issues with HVAC systems relate to energy utilization that may tax a power plant of the vehicle or an energy storage device of the vehicle. To minimize the energy utilization and maximize available occupant volume of the cabin environment, one approach is to heat and cool only the zone where an occupant is located. In certain instances, supplemental heating and cooling can be used to augment the thermal transfer capacity of the HVAC system.
There remains a need for an HVAC system that does not occupy space in an instrument panel while occupying a minimized amount of space in the interior of a vehicle that can provide supplemental heating and cooling capacity.